These healthy cake batter energy bars will rock your face off.
Addictively delicious no-bake energy bars that taste surprisingly like cake batter.
It’s weird, but they really do!
Now that I’ve finally started posting videos (what took me so long?!), I’m going back to some of the most popular recipes of three to four years ago to remake them, add videos, and see if I can make the original recipes even healthier.
In the case of these cake batter bars, I’ve improved upon the original recipe—this new version makes a much bigger batch and is also lower in sugar.
The sprinkles add a fun touch, but it’s actually not the sprinkles that make these bars taste like cake batter, so feel free to omit them if you desire.
The first time I made these cake batter energy bars was on one particular Saturday afternoon when a friend came to visit with her four-year-old daughter.
With the leftover sprinkles, we thought it’d be fun to make sprinkle maracas by pouring the sprinkles into containers (as seen above) and shaking.
But the little girl was more interested in a family of bugs she found in front of the house.
Using leaves and rocks, she spent about an hour constructing a home for “Bobby” the roly poly bug.
Then she decided he needed food, and so she proceeded to dump the entire contents of her sprinkle maraca onto the ground for Bobby to eat.
Obviously Bobby took no interest in this sustenance.
But I think we’ll now be getting ants.
Going back to these cake batter bars.
Just 6 ingredients in these easy-to-make and kid-friendly energy bars that need no refrigeration and can be customizable to fit allergy-friendly diets as well.
My favorite nut butter to use in these bars is cashew butter, but any nut butter—or even Sunbutter or Peabutter—will work here.
As always with my recipes, be sure to use pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla or vanilla flavoring.
And you can replace the sprinkles with raisins or even mini chocolate chips if your heart desires.
Protein powder can also be added if you want a higher-protein snack bar.
Cake Batter Energy Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice crispies (brown, white, or gf)
- 1 cup oat flour, or make your own by blending rolled oats then measuring 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp roasted cashew butter, or allergy-friendly sub
- 1/2 cup agave or honey
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- handful sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- *If desired, you can replace up to half of the oat flour with your favorite protein powder.Combine all dry ingredients and stir well. In a separate bowl, whisk together liquid ingredients to form a thin paste. (If your nut butter is cold, warm it a little for easier mixing.) Then stir together all ingredients to form a batter. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment or wax, and smooth the batter into the pan. A trick is to use a second sheet of parchment over top to spread the batter and press it firmly into the pan. Really press it down as hard as you can. Refrigerate or freeze to harden, then cut into bars.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Dessert Recipes
Homemade Chocolate Bars (3 Ingredients)
I have never been sadder in my life at the lack of rice crispies in my cupboard. 🙁 Must go to the store on my way home from work, cause i need to make this as soon as humanly possible!
I just made these and they are spoiling yummy. I am allergic to oats so I dubbed in brown rice flour. I also dubbed in sunflower butter because I did not have cashew butter. The results were amazing. Thanks for sharing so many great recipes. I am still amazing people with my deep dish cookie pie. No one can believe that the main ingredient is garbanzo beans!
My darn phone changes words…guess I should READ it first. Lol. I meant sooooo good. And subbed not dubbed. Lol.
Rarely do I follow recipes and thought I’d give this one a whirl. Followed it exactly and while the end product was delicious it was also REALLY gooey. Anybody else have this problem??
Yes. Really sticky and also way flatter than they turned out in the pictures, and also way floppy. Like you can’t hold it without it folding in your hand. And I’m a professional baker… I followed the recipe to a T. They were REALLY really really good tasting though. I’m planning on trying again tonight. I was just going to add more oat flour and see how that turns out. :\
These look amazing! I need to try them ASAP!
Check out my latest recipe @ bakingblissful.blogspot.com
My step mom, who is the farthest thing from vegan, saw me reading this post and said “mmmm, that looks good. Are you going to make it?”. I think we have a winner. 🙂
Ha! “Say goodbye to your face.” That cracks me up. Going to make these for my little brother’s housewarming party this weekend. Shhh… don’t tell anyone it’s healthy! Actually, y’know what, go ahead and tell them… if they avoid them, that means more for ME! Bwaahaahaahaa. 😉
Thanks, Katie! You’ve done it again.
Hi Katie,
I enjoy your blog so much! Wanted to let you know that I tried this recipe (with substitutions for what I didn’t have on hand). Here’s what I did: Instead of agave nectar, I used 4 Tbsp stevia (in the raw) and 5 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce. I also substituted peanut butter for the cashew butter. It turned out quite well, although I’ve been eating them frozen, so don’t know the consistency at room temperature. I would venture a guess that the cashew butter would be a milder flavor, as they taste more like peanut butter cookie dough than cake batter! Still great!
Katie!! I made these energy bars yesterday and they’re already gone! I am in LOVE with them. I have been looking for a snack I can bring to work and these are perfect. I have been a vegetarian (also don’t eat eggs or milk) for 7 years and always looking for little ways to sneak protein. If you have any coconutty protein/energy bars please share! You’re the best, keep up the good work!
You can put sprinkles on a stick and I’d eat it! These look fantastic Katie! PInned and ready to make!
Hi!! I made these last night with the protein powder option and I used PB2. I know that some thought that it might be too crumbly with the PB2, but I had the opposite issue! They were very sticky and never set (even after 24 hours). However, they are VERY yummy. I did use sugar free chocolate chips instead of sprinkles. We just eat them with a spoon!
I made mine with protein powder and pb2 as well, but I froze mine overnight instead – they were very firm in the morning and turned out well! Hope this helps!